Treasure
by Scented-Marker-Sniffer
Summary: Everyone in Skyloft, even eight-year-old Link, knew you could never recover anything dropped over the edge, not even if it was your most treasured possession. Maybe someday he would change that...


**(In case anyone wonders/cares where the weird idea for this story came from), I was playing Skyward Sword recently and while wandering around Skyloft, I noticed a lot of the characters mention that anything lost over the edge of their island can never be recovered. I started playing around with that idea and wondering if the children of Skyloft lose their toys over the edge very often. Then the idea ran away from me and this was written. Yep. The two parts of this take place roughly nine years pre-SS and then mid-game, in case things like that confuse you.**

**Anyway, reviews are appreciated but certainly not required. Thank you very much for visiting and please enjoy!**

* * *

The day in Skyloft was peaceful, like every other day on the pacific island. Adults heaving laundry baskets chatted between their chores, cerulean Blessed Butterflies flitted about the vibrant flowers, and the calm wind ruffled the many colorful banners surrounding the small township. The only things breaking the peace were the distant sounds of knights in training, and the screaming of two children.

The shrill voices belonged to eight-year-olds Groose and Link, who were known around the island for going together worse than a Loftwing and nighttime. The two boys simply would _not_ get along, no matter what, but the adults shrugged off most of their scuffles. Boys would be boys, as the old adage went, and hopefully when they got a little older they might grow out of their squabbles.

If one were to ask either eight-year-old though, both would fiercely respond that they would _never_ be friends with the other—never ever ever ever, _ever,_ in a kajillion years.

The topic of their screaming match that day was one of Link's marbles. Many of the little boys around town had their own collections to trade and admire, and as far as Link was concerned, this particular marble was the crown jewel of his own meager compilation. It was beautiful—painted red on one side, blue on the other, and in the middle the two colors blended into a perfect violet. Zelda had painted it herself for Link's birthday two years earlier ("Look! Red like your Loftwing, and then blue like mine! Do you like it?"), and that one fact was what made the otherwise fairly plain marble so special to the young tow-headed boy.

Unfortunately, that fact also made it a target for Groose's jealousy. The crimson-haired child kept up a constant mantra that of course he did not like Zelda, girls were icky and Link had cooties because he played with one so much, but in his mind, if he couldn't like Zelda, then neither could Link.

And so when he saw the blue-eyed boy bouncing past, carrying that marble like always, on his way to meet Zelda to play at the creek, Groose smirked, snuck up on young Link, and proceeded to snatch the marble right out of his hand. Link wheeled, expression the very picture of indignation, and Groose thumbed his nose before sprinting off.

Soon enough, both children were screaming.

_"Groose!_ Give that _back!_ I mean it!"

"You want it back? Here, reach!" Groose halted his escape and held the marble high over his head, and the much-shorter Link jumped at it fruitlessly.

"No _fair,_ Groose!"

"Why should I care?" The golden-eyed child sneered and again shot off, chortling. His longer legs and more developed muscles gave him a marked advantage over his undersized opponent, who was straining just to keep up, shrieking at the top of his lungs.

"Groose! Groose, this isn't funny! Give it back! I'M _TELLING!"_

"What, you gonna tell Zelda, _baby?"_ Beginning to breed a hilarious idea in his head, Groose took a sudden turn off the path they had followed, (somewhat clumsily) vaulting himself over a bench and into the plaza, gaze fixed on the nearby diving platform. All at once realizing what his formidable foe was up to, Link gave an ear-splitting cry and pursued him, petite legs pumping as fast as he could push them.

Groose stopped at the edge of the platform, suspending the marble over the yawning clouds with his thumb and forefinger, and Link's wide blue eyes widened further as he skidded to a halt several steps away, for fear of provoking his rival into dropping the precious orb. He couldn't lose that marble. It was Zelda's gift. Zelda was his best friend in the whole wide sky, she'd be so disappointed if he lost the present she had worked so hard on, he _couldn't_ lose that marble.

_"Groose,"_ the blond child whispered, eyes fixated on the marble, voice defeated. He could feel tears of despair prickling at his eyes. "Groose, don't."

Said boy gave him a nasty glare, before easing his expression into a winning smile. "Okay, sure." He began to retract his hand from the edge and Link was so relieved he almost forgot that there was obviously something wrong here—

Countenance now twisted into a positively malicious smirk, Groose dropped the marble.

Link screamed in horror and dropped to his knees at the brink of the wooden platform, blue eyes following the lovely glass trinket as it rapidly turned into a barely visible dot before disappearing altogether. Behind him, Groose was laughing (okay, so he felt a little bad for dropping the marble, but it really was _just_ a marble, Link shouldn't be such a baby, _gosh),_ and Link couldn't even manage to argue with him, only pushing past him to run off and hide from Zelda, hot tears blinding him. Everyone knew you could never, ever, ever find anything you dropped over the edge. Not in a kajillion years. He was never going to see that marble again. He could never face Zelda.

Unfortunately for him, young Zelda had known him for precisely eight years, and so when her friend didn't come to meet her at the creek like he promised, she quickly located him hiding in the branches of his favorite tree. Shamefully, intermittently wiping his nose on his sleeve, he told her the story of what had happened to her marble. He hid his face, fearing the worst, but she laughed and gave him a hug and assured him it was okay, the marble wasn't that important, and _of course_ she wasn't mad. However, she _was _quick to find Groose and give him the scalding lecture of his life, advancing on him with her finger in his startled face until he was nearly wavering on the edge of the island, before huffily snatching up Link's hand and marching away. Link was embarrassed but cheered by this—he decided it was probably best to accept the fact that Zelda was always going to be the more assertive one in their friendship—and the pair was finally able to go play in the cool waters of the creek, laughing and splashing each other for hours on end.

When Link finally slipped into bed that night, his young mind had already almost forgotten about the anguish caused by the marble. He was happy to know that Zelda wasn't angry with him for losing it, but he couldn't help but wonder where it had ended up exactly… Somewhere down there, in some strange alien land nobody had ever seen before…

The little boy dreamed of fantastic adventures on a wild Surface land, but in the morning he decided to just forget the whole thing and spend his days playing with his best friend Zelda.

* * *

"Master, I calculate an 87% probability that climbing this tree will be fruitless."

"I know. But there's still that…" He quickly counted in his head. "… 13% chance I might find something valuable, right?" The teenager gave his partner (he refused to call her "servant") a cheerful grin. As per usual, it went unreturned, reciprocated by Fi's typical blank stare, which he had begun to grow used to. It didn't make him as uneasy as it did in the beginning.

"Of course, Master. Please continue your search." The pretty metal girl gave him a stiff bow before flipping back into his sword (he didn't even bother calling "Bye, Fi!" after her anymore), and Link continued his ascent up the vine hanging from the branches of a tree in the Kikwis' new home, near the Viewing Platform. He had never much bothered with the local vegetation before, but after finding that useful materials sometimes made their homes in the branches of the Faron Woods trees, he made it a somewhat obsessive-compulsive point to check every one of them. The young hero felt that if Fi had emotions, this habit might have annoyed her. Sometimes he thought it probably annoyed her now.

Reaching one of the sturdy branches at the top, the intrepid boy stood and balanced himself carefully, searching the higher leafy branches for any stray horns or Rupees or maybe even just a bug to catch or some fruit to eat.

His bright eyes lit up further when he saw a faint glint in the branches above, and after a great deal of straining and reaching and stepping on thinner branches of questionable integrity, he finally pulled it down in a handful of moss.

Link settled back into a sitting position on the thick branch, and peered at his quarry curiously. Was it a Golden Skull, or a Gratitude Crystal, or even a Goddess Plume…?

But when he looked closer, he saw it was none of these things, none of the treasures he had previously encountered. It was a colorful little piece of glass, and he turned it around in his hands curiously.

"Fi, what is this?"

The sword spirit appeared at his question and examined the large bead without preamble. "… Master, my calculations indicate there is an 94% probability that this is a marble. A children's toy."

"A marble? I used to have a ton of these. Kinda brings back memories. What in Goddess's name is it doing down here, though…?" The boy continued to examine it. It was a charming marble, inexpertly painted blue and red, and purple where the colors met.

"Huh. It's kinda familiar…" Link squinted at the glass trinket. The scarlet was the same shade as his Loftwing, he noted fondly, and come to think of it the sapphire matched the shade of Zelda's…

All at once, the memories returned to the young man. A fight on a sunny day, and the loss of one of his most precious possessions. Here it was, sitting in the palm of his hand. Chipped, clouded with dirt, but… in his _hand._

Link instantly gave a resounding laugh, for once not caring what monsters may have been around to hear it. Oh, how things had changed from the days when he lost this little marble. The Surface was not just a dream in a little boy's head but solid rock under his feet; in a not-quite-planned twist of fate, childhood bully Groose had become one of his most valued allies, and Zelda…

With a resolute nod, the hero slipped the precious marble into his safest pocket. When all of this was over, he would show it to Zelda, and they could smile and laugh about those simpler days, and maybe together they could dream about a brighter future, too.

Link slipped back down the vine and got on the road to his best friend once more, happily whistling a Skyloftian tune to the beat of a promise rolling in his pocket.


End file.
